Las Cruces police ID body found near ditch off Valley Drive; no foul play suspected

Robert Aguirre speaks with Las Cruces Police officer Samuel Austin on Tuesday after he spotted a body in a ditch behind Caliche´s Frozen Custard on S. Valley Drive. While on his lunch break, Aguirre found the lifeless body that he believed was male and about 60 years- ld. He said the man did not appear to have been there for a long time, yet a sunburn was noticeable

LAS CRUCES >> After spending much of Tuesday afternoon investigating, authorities learned that a body found in a ditch near Valley Drive was that of a 60-year-old Las Cruces man.

Family members approached Las Cruces Police Department investigators at the scene late Tuesday saying the man had walked from his home a couple days ago and had not been seen since, according to an LCPD news release. Authorities then confirmed their missing relative was the man found Tuesday. LCPD declined to release the man's name because, at this point in the investigation, no foul play is suspected, spokesman Dan Trujillo said,

The body will be sent to the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator for autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.

Robert Aguirre, a Las Cruces man who works nearby, said he was on his lunch break when he discovered the body near a ditch in the large field between South Valley Drive and Burn Lake Road.

Aguirre said the body appeared to be that of a man in his 60s. The body seemed badly sunburned and "looked deceased," Agurire said. But he didn't notice any clear, serious injuries.

Aguirre was driving along the ditch that crosses the field when he noticed the body. It's not uncommon, he said, to encounter homeless people resting in the area, so he wasn't startled.

Aguirre said he did not recognize the man, and he didn't respond when Aguirre honked his horn. Aguirre called 911 about 12:30 p.m.

Several LCPD officers and personnel were searching a large area surrounding the site where Aguirre found the body. Trujillo said then, about 2 p.m., that LCPD investigators hadn't examined the body. Protocol calls for officers to search a large area around the body for possible evidence and gather photographs while working closer to the body.